Hanging out for a cause

Mark McIntyre, a testicular cancer survivor, is hitchhiking from Vancouver to the Stanfield’s factory in Truro in his underwear to raise money for ‘under the waist’ cancers.

HE’S CALLING FROM THE BACK of a Saskatchewan correctional services van in his underwear.

But Mark McIntyre isn’t in trouble.

And he’s been wearing tighty whities — in public — for a good cause.

Boxers, briefs, long johns “with butt flap” too.

Even polar long johns for those –20 temperatures bound to make George Costanza, he of Seinfeldian “shrinkage” fame, shudder.

The Toronto actor is hitchhiking across Canada, from Vancouver to Truro, in his skivvies to raise money for research into “under the waist” cancers. And to increase awareness about these cancers — colorectal, prostate and testicular, a cancer McIntyre had five years ago.

And now he’s in a correctional services van on a chilly highway near Regina.

“I hitched a ride from them. I’m talking to you from a cage right now,” McIntyre laughs before the phone reception crackles and the line goes dead.

The correctional officers spotted him at a Subway restaurant, he says after phoning back.

“They wanted to know what was up with me wandering around in my underwear.

“So I told them the story and asked where they were going, and they were going in my direction so they gave me a lift.”

The 43-year-old has been wandering around in his underwear and getting lifts since he left Vancouver on Nov. 14.

If he makes it to Truro in 21 days, by Dec. 4, iconic underwear manufacturer Stanfield’s will donate $20,000 or more to the Canadian Cancer Society.

The Truro company supplied the idea and the undies for the trip, which McIntyre calls a “symbiotic” campaign that’s part advertising, part fundraising and part consciousness-raising about what sometimes lies beneath.

Company president Jon Stanfield calls it a campaign to enhance “brand recognition” while raising money and bringing attention to an important health concern for men.

“Part of our slogan in our campaign is We Support Men, and what other better way to support men than to provide funding for testicular cancer research, because our underwear houses, you know, the two boys that matter in that circumstance.”

So between the “strange stares” or unprintable jokes he sometimes hears, McIntyre hopes he’s also saving lives.

He’s been astounded by how many kindly strangers he’s met, from good ol’ boys to younger men to elderly couples, who have either had testicular cancer or know someone who’s had it.

The nearly nude hitchhiker, who was also hired by Stanfield’s two years ago for a joint advertising-fundraising campaign, learned by accident that he had testicular cancer.

He was working as a pretend patient for medical school students in Toronto when a supervising urologist found a lump.

“It was shocking,” McIntyre says.

Doctors removed one of his testicles and he’s been feeling fine ever since.

He wants others to know that early detection is key.

“You can get it as young as 15; the most common age is 15 to 29,” he says, waiting out the freezing rain in a white onesie, almost ready to thumb another ride.

“One of my things, and I’m glad we’re talking about it, is awareness for the younger people or people’s parents, boys’ parents, because guys aren’t … checking that stuff the way women are checking breasts.

“But it’s so curable, it would be a shame if guys didn’t know to check or didn’t know to get physicals every once in a while, even when they’re a bit younger, just to make sure that everything’s OK.”

And to make sure that if they have cancer, it doesn’t spread.

So he keeps spreading the word via this long, strange trip across the country — a campaign dubbed The Gitchhiker, he says, because “gitch” is one of many slang terms for the unmentionables.

Every now and then, he gets a glimpse of how oddly adventurous the journey really is. Sometimes it happens while he’s holding his sign saying I’m Doing This For Charity, so people know “I’m not just some joker on the side of the road (in) my underwear.” Or it happens at certain promotional stops.

“We’ve gone to a couple bars, that feels weird to me,” McIntyre says.

“I’m not necessarily comfortable but the people are so nice. Once you tell them what you’re doing, they’re pretty cool.

“I mean there are moments when I’m like, wow, this is crazy.”

But response has been overwhelmingly positive, he says. Strangers have been spontaneously generous, giving him money for the cause. He tweets the fundraising tally each evening. (Twitter: @Gitchhiker, hashtag: #gitch)

Stanfield figures it’s about $8,000 extra so far. And he says his company is also planning to top up that commitment of $20,000 when McIntyre arrives in Truro.

Supporters can also help out at gitchhiker.com by offering McIntyre rides or daring him to perform tasks like underwear dog sledding. Or they can hit the website’s “likeline” to help him build up extra emergency kilometres so he can travel in the van that follows him if the weather is too bad to hitchhike.

Now in his third province, McIntyre says some days are cold and long. But he’s committed to stretching out his thumb and letting almost everything else hang out.